Scene One Does Bro Stock

Well Scene One just had quite the little journey starting last Tuesday when we rented out two hybrid Priuses and drove those bad boys straight from Orlando, Florida to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. The occasion was BroStock 2008, a Liquid Force houseboat gathering and party on the lake last weekend. Our hosts were the Reeder brothers (Tommy and Brian), and we couldn’t have done it without them. Those two were born and raised in those beautiful hills and cool water of the great state of Virginia, so pretty much we had the best tour guides possible. They were even stopping off the side of the road on the way up and showing us winch gaps! In “Team Fire” a.k.a. the red Prius, we had Keith Lant, Roland Lugo, and myself. The brothers Reeder cruised in “Team Ice” a.k.a. the blue Prius. After nearly 12 hours of driving (through the middle of the night), we arrived at the lake around 9am. From there, it was all about the chillin’. We met up with the Liquid Force team later on, who I really got to say is pretty great, and they rented out a house for the first few days for the team to stay at until the houseboats were ready for the weekend. An event like this one was super low-stress on the riders and people involved. You could tell everyone was just looking to relax and take it easy, and that’s pretty much what happened (until the partying began at night). The easy-going atmosphere was perfect to attract newcomers to the sport and to keep a smile on everyone’s faces.

Without going into too much detail on the exact happenings of each night we were there, pretty much the most I can say is that the people of Virginia are just downright awesome. Every single person we met was extremely hospitable and generous with anything they owned. Thanks so much to everyone that we chilled with. I also want to put in a great word for Smith Mountain Lake. The lake has 500 miles of shoreline, and the majority of those miles seemed to be perfectly tucked away glassy riding spots. It was truly enjoyable and the weather was excellent the whole trip. The perfect waters made it nearly impossible for us to ever want to leave! Anyone that has ever ridden a board on the lake should feel fortunate to be a part of something so great.

On Saturday the local shop on the lake, Wake ‘n Skate, threw their annual grassroots contest, and the wakeskate division had a great number of guys that were riding pretty hard, especially considering the somewhat rolly conditions they were dealing with. It was sick seeing local talent like Zack Ashton and Joe Philips throwing huge wake to wake tricks and getting close to the oh-so-elusive kickflip. Andrew Fortenberry was in town from Florida to put down some impressive moves, like the contest favorite “toe shove to indy” and some other trickery to take the first place prize. Seeing a wakeskating scene in different states is one of the raddest things to witness, and it really proves to me how important it is that wakeskating grows and spreads throughout the world. We all owe it to our sport to help it grow as much as possible and spread the joy of riding on the water without bindings to the rest of the world. Start your own scene and spread the stoke.

As far as actual wakeskating went the whole weekend, the most important thing to know is how hard Danny Hampson shredded during a contest intervention period. I’m pretty sure Danny walked down to the dock not even upon his own will, but rather was the victim of the flying whims of an intangible spiritual magnet coming from deep within the lake, summoning him to grab his gnar bar and make some magic happen. Danny got pretty footloose and fancy free within a mere three passes, sticking crazy wake to wake lines first try, like a heelside late front big to switch heelside late front shove to heel front three, then turning around and stomping the crap out of the cleanest late front 3 shove wake to wake that he claims he has ever done. It was truly an honor to witness such talent in action. Thank you, Danny.

As far as the rest of the trip, well there was lots and lots more hanging out and “dancing with the stars,” as I like to call it. SML pumped it up pretty hard and heavy, and we couldn’t thank her enough. Here’s to next year.